South Africans walks tall; vows to remain good hosts (Feature)

By Clare Byrne Jun 23, 2010, 11:31 GMT

Johannesburg - Despite the disappointment of being eliminated in the first round, South Africans were walking tall on Wednesday after a valiant victory over the French and rooting for Ghana to keep the continent's home World Cup hopes alive.

'Way to go boys,' the Sowetan daily trumpeted in its front page, saluting Bafana Bafana (Boys Boys) for a 'gallant win' over the dispirited former world champions.

The boys were 'walking tall', the paper added in a caption above a photograph of a diminutive Siphiwe Tshabalala walking off the pitch with a French jersey slung over his shoulder after the famous Battle of Bloem(fontein).

'Out but proud,' The Citizen daily concluded, while The Star called South Africa's 2-1 win a 'bittersweet end for Bafana.'

A day after calling on the home side to 'storm the Bastille,' The Star turned its attentions to Ghana, who take on Germany in their final Group D game Wednesday in Johannesburg.

Ghana are the only African side to have won a game so far and the only one of the 'six pack' of teams given a chance of saving the continent's blushes by making it through to the knockout stages.

South Africa, Cameroon and Nigeria are already out of the picture, Algeria and Cote d'Ivoire are struggling with one point apiece.

'Ghana, do it for Africa,' The Star appealed, echoing the hopes of many South Africans, who view Ghana as a leader in more ways than one.

The former English colony was the first African country to win independence in 1957 and was also the first to be visited by Barack Obama last year on his first visit to the continent as president.

'I'm now going to support Ghana,' said Selina Sepbopa, a 59-year-old grandmother of three who cleans the offices of several media houses in Johannesburg.

And if Ghana is knocked out?

'Then I'll go for Brazil,' she said, opting for a team that occupies a special place in the heart of South Africans for their flair and their fans' joie de vivre.

'This is still South Africa's World Cup. We are not going home, the World Cup is happening in our home,' World Cup local organizing committee Danny Jordaan reminded the country Tuesday night.

'I remain confident that South Africans will continue to be fantastic hosts for the next two and a half weeks and make the most of this incredible time in our country's history, which has already seen us achieve so much,' Jordaan added.

If attendance at games is anything to go by, South Africans are still coming to the party.

For six days before the France game they knew they needed nothing short of a miracle to advance to the next round, following their disastrous 3-0 defeat by Uruguay.

And yet, over 84,000 people packed into Soccer City stadium on Sunday to see Brazil beat Ivory Coast 3-1, most of them South Africans.

Average attendance at this World Cup after 36 matches is running at 48,446, the third-highest since 1982, after the 2002 United States and 2006 Germany editions.

By contrast, attendance at fan fests and public viewing areas has slowed to a trickle since the opening game on June 11 between South Africa and Mexico, bar for South Africa games.

On Tuesday evening, under 100 people stood under a giant screen in central Johannesburg's capacious Mary Fitzgerald Square as Nigeria fought South Korea in vain for a place in the round of 16. The surrounding bars were also quiet.

Some blame the winter weather but it is the fear of crime that has really squeezed the life out of South Africa's streets after dark.

And yet the tsotis (thugs) that often terrorize the population appear to be also hugging the hearth during the World Cup.

From Johannesburg to Durban and Cape Town, foreign fans have marvelled at how safe they have felt.

'People were a bit worried beforehand, but security seems fine,' England fan John said in Cape Town. 'We've had no problems.'